Bitter
by naluislife247
Summary: Nalu, all rights go to Hiro Mashima The chaos gets to Natsu and when his shock finally fades he's left broken, bitter, and angry.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A demon. Natsu was a demon, not just any but END himself. Looking at the scales on his claws in disgust he attempts to tear them off only to find his scales as hard as steel. Tears stream down his partially scaled face, the skin sensitive and red from their constant rubbing. No matter what he did, the horns and scales wouldn't disappear, this ugly transformation was permanent and the sharp pain in his back was evermore increasing. Natsu falls to his knees in front of Igneel's corpse, choking on tears at the realization of his situation. His heart hurt so badly as if it were ripped from his chest. To see his father killed and hear Zeref's laughter triggered a rage that scared even Natsu. That loss of control revealed his true, painful, ugly form.

Lucy began calling his name from a distance causing him to shudder in response. Fear spread through his body like wild fire at the notion of his friends spotting him, but his legs just wouldn't work. Natsu was grounded, helplessly waiting for the inevitable outcome.

Hate.

Disgust.

Isolation.

Why was she running towards him? Why was Gray close behind? Didn't they hear Zeref's declaration? Can't they see that Igneel's death was Natsu's fault? Lucy is the first to reach him, embracing her dragonslayer despite the harshness of his scales. Gray stands silently watching them, a look of confusion wresting on his face.

"Can you turn back?"

It was a simple question, one that was answered by silence, but it brought Lucy's attention to Natsu's true appearance. She sucks in a breath at the sight of him, gingerly touching his face. Her fingers feathered the skin nearest his scales, concern rising as her friend shuts his eyes. It hurt.

Rough hands force him upward and Natsu finds himself draped across Gray's shoulder.

"Makarov will know what to do."

Makarov, the guild, Fairy Tail. They were taking him to Fairy Tail. Fire erupts from his body, burning Gray and forcing his friend to let him go. This was all too much, he had to get away. Gray thought this was reversible, but it wasn't. The agonizing pain in his back overwhelms him and Natsu falls to his knees crying out in pain and hugging his sides as two massive dragon wings tear out from his back, reducing his back to a bloody mess. Black spots overtake his vision and the world spins around him, a headache so fierce he feels like throwing up. Natsu barely notices Lucy catching him as he blacks out, her cries for Gray to help going unnoticed.

—-

Natsu stirs in his sleep, bleary eyes opening just to find himself in Lucy's bed. The pain was gone but his demon form was still there. He felt heavy, as if gravity was acting against him and yet he was still aware of his surroundings. For instance, he could hear the door slowly opening and caught the strong smell of coffee.

"You're awake." It was more of a statement then a question. Lucy makes her way to the side of the bed and sets her coffee on the nightstand. She gingerly runs her hand through his hair as if trying to comfort him. "You really scared me you know. We barely reached Wendy in time, if it wasn't for her you would've-"Lucy pauses, not wanting to say that dreaded word. "But you're okay now," the mage says softly, "And that's all that matters."

"Luce."

She smiles at her nickname, the worry apparent in her eyes. His friend leans down and kissed his forehead before getting back up as if to leave. He reaches out immediately, grabbing her arm, silently begging for her to stay. She seems to catch on and joins him in bed, not denying his need to embrace her under the covers.

"I'm a demon." He whispers, his heart racing.

Lucy nestles closer, placing her head against his chest and smiles.

"Demons don't have hearts, and yet you do."

He wasn't sure what to make of her response and yet he took comfort in it. His eyes grew heavy and once again Natsu drifted into sleep, not wanting to think anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

Bitter

Chapter 2

Everyone was so disgustingly happy, it never occurred to him how idiotic their friendship speeches were. How could they smile at him like that? How could the guild that practically raised him just pretend his state didn't exist? Disgruntled by their irrational joy he gets up to leave, only to sense Lucy's presence nearby. Natsu turns to her and growls, glowering down at her as she takes his claw anyway. Growling seemed to be his only way of communication as his stunted transformation left half of his jaw that of a dragon and the other half normal. Because of this, Natsu could barely speak reducing his language to saying 3 words a day and growling. In fact, the only thing he could eat properly was soup and pasta but that was only because it was soft and didn't need chewing.

For a moment Natsu could have sworn the whole guild was looking at him, as if they stilled to see what would happen. This only agitated him further and Natsu stormed out of the guild.

"Why are you so irritated?" Lucy huffs in complaint, following her dragon slayer out of the guild. "Didn't you want to see your friends?"

Her voice was piercing as all sounds were, it was a sensory overload nearly every day. The sun was harsh and bright, friends spoke higher and faster, Natsu could smell every flower-he could hear every whisper. Like now with Lucy and her golden hair practically reflecting the sun, her speech quick and sharp, it was to much for him. Everything was too much.

"Can't you at least point to where you're going?" Her annoyance was apparent making Natsu wait for her to catch up before pointing at her apartment and grunting his answer. "And just how will you get in without a key? You realize I put a seal on the window, right? Don't look at me like that, you've been in this form for three days now Natsu you can't shut your friends out forever."

She tries taking his claw again but this time fire bursts from his arm down to his claw making Lucy stagger back to avoid burning herself. Ignoring her inevitable speech on how she was "just trying to help" he flares his wings and jumps, catching the wind under them and granting him the ability to fly. Soaring through the sky to her apartment Natsu can hear the scream of a child, looking down just in time to see the little girl cling to her mother, both with the same horrified expression. Natsu doesn't stop to break the seal and just crashes through the window. As if a such a trivial spell could keep him from getting into her apartment.

Not liking the sunlight streaming in through the now broken window, he makes his way downstairs to the living room and turns off all the lights. Darkness was bliss for him as it shut out all the light and colors of the furniture and walls. Something was happening inside of him, like a hidden entity slowly crawling through his body and gripping his heart. There were times when his heart beat so hard it physically hurt, that paralysis took hold of his body as his joints tensed up, it was all he could do to breathe until finally succumbing to whatever this was and passing out. Natsu grips his heart and curls up near a couch, feeling the paralysis coming, what did Lucy say this was? A panic-attack? Shutting his eyes, he rides it out as long as he can before passing out yet again.

 _He awoke covered in inky blackness, the ink dripping from his body as he realized his own nakedness. Before him was a large sphere wrapped in what seemed to be vines. Natsu couldn't stand, the ink thick and heavy, so he crawled through the blackness to the sphere, grabbing hold of the vines to pull himself up. Inside the sphere was a small child that looked just like him, despite the peacefulness of the sphere something about this young boy scared Natsu as if something horrible was about to happen. He begins banging his fist against the sphere cracking it open as he cries for the little boy to wake up, instead the sphere breaks apart and Natsu collapses onto the child. Struggling against the blackness to get back onto his knees he finds the body of the boy underneath him. The infant's body now burned and ugly, turning into ash with every touch from Natsu's hand. The dragon slayer cries out, sobbing from the death of this unknown child. Someone comes to kneel before him, the stranger appearing out of the darkness and forcing Natsu to look up at him. It was a ghoulish looking Zeref, blood on his hands and dripping his lips as he smiles with blood stained teeth._

" _My Natsu."_

 _Blood splashes against Natsu's face as the words seep from Zeref's mouth, terror taking hold of his body._

Jolting up from the floor the dragon slayer rushes to turn the lights on, terrified of the dark. Going into the kitchen and turning on the sink he washes his face with a towel repeatedly, desperately trying to get the nonexistent blood off his face.

"You're coming along nicely." Natsu turns around quickly to find Zeref leaning against the kitchen counter. He had a smug look on his face, satisfied by the sight in front of him. "What? Can't I talk to my own brother?"

A sudden rage flares through Natsu's body as he lunges towards the dark mage only to have Zeref catch his fist, blocking the attack. Zeref quickly grabs Natsu's face and slams him against the sink, inky blackness emitting from his hand and pouring into Natsu's mouth and eyes forcing it down his throat and burning his eyes. There's a small click that comes from the front door and an upset Lucy walks in just as Zeref vanishes. Natsu collapses to the floor and starts throwing up ink, Lucy's anger turning into concern as she runs over to him.

"Natsu! Oh my god!" She quickly grabs a bowl and puts it under him having him throw up into it instead of the floor. The celestial wizard rubs his back as more and more ink comes out. Once it's finally over Natsu doesn't fight back when Lucy pulls him up. The minute she sees his face though her eyes widen but she shakes her head and guides him to the kitchen table. "I'll get you a glass of water." He only nods in response and Lucy leaves him for a moment.

What did Zeref do? His face felt the same, and yet his jaw didn't hurt so much.

Lucy places a glass of water on the table, not really looking at him this time. Peering into the glass it finally occurs to him what she's so scared of. _His eyes were completely black._


End file.
